Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/94

 68 WEST AFRICA. FUERTEVEKTURA. Fuerteventura^ the Erbania of the old inhabitants, is separated from Lanzarote by the Bocaina Channel, only 6 or 7 miles wide, but everywhere at least 650 feet deep. Towards the southern entrance lies the isle of Lobos, consisting of a large crater partly destroyed and encircled by lava-streams and sandhills. Like Lanza- rote, Fuerteventura presents an arid and dreary aspect, and is destitute of trees except some stunted tamarisks in a few sheltered glens, and some clusters of date- palms, cocoa-nut, fig, and almond trees round about the villages. But the island is better watered than its neighbour, having some running streams, which however become brackish before reaching the coast. The rocks also are less porous than those of Lanzarote, so that the rainwater does not disappear so rapidly in the soil. But despite these advantages and its noted fertility, Erbania has perhaps less inhabitants than at the time of the conquest. Although over 60 miles long from north-east to south-west and exceeded in extent only by Teneriffe, it has a smaller population than the large towns of the archipelago, being at the last census scarcely more than twelve to the square mile. This is mainly due to the monopoly of the land by a few hands, over half the island belonging to a single family. The southern peninsula of Jandia, forming almost a separate island 70 square miles in extent, is held by a single farmer, who in 1883 had attracted only sixty- seven inhabitants to his estate. In the north little is seen except sands and heaps of scoria ; but the land gradually rises southwards, forming a very irregular central ridge running north- east and south-west, and consisting of crystalline rocks, syenites, diorites, diabases, with here and there layers of argillaceous schists and limestones. Right and left of the ridge, craters have appeared, while lavas fill all the depressions. The ridge terminates southwards in the Garden Hills, connecting it with the rugged Jandia peninsula by a chain of basalts and limestones scarcely 350 feet high, but abruptly rising to 2,650 feet on the west coast. Formerly the peninsula was cut off from the rest of the island by a cyclopean wall, all traces of which have not yet dis- appeared. Like Teguise in Lanzarote, Betancnria in Fuerteventura has lost the rank of capital given to it by its founder, the conqueror of the island. The present capital is Puerto dc Cabran, the chief centre of population, on the side facing the African mainland. But the largest towns, such as Casillas del Angel, Ampiiyenta, Antigua, and Tuimje, are grouped in the fertile plains of the central districts, bounded by the steep cliffs and lava-fields of the " Mai pais." Gran Canaria. Gran Canaria, which gives its name to the whole archipelago of which it occupies the geographical centre, differs in its general relief altogether from the eastern islands. Instead of presenting long ridges, isolated masses, or distinct volcanoes dotted over the plains, it constitutes a single mountain mass with flattened